Women's Tennis

W. Tennis: Singles and doubles still alive at state championships

File Photo: Lisa Suzuki advances in both singles and doubles

Apr 27, 2018

After the second day of the CCCAA State Championships in Ojai, the Cerritos College women's tennis team has three singles players and a pair of doubles teams still active. The quarterfinals will get underway at 8:00 a.m., with two more wins advancing players to the state championship match.

Singles play saw #2-seeded Lisa Suzuki (Fujimigaoka, Japan/Seward County (KS) CC) record a pair of wins, while she teamed with freshman teammate Kseniia Prokopchuk (School 45, Ukraine) to advance with two victories as a #1 seed in doubles. Suzuki opened the day with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over unseeded Taylor Johnson of Mt. San Jacinto College and followed that with a 6-1, 6-2 win over #10-seeded Jacklyn Melkonian of Saddleback College. On Saturday, Suzuki will face #3-seeded Caroline Nordman of Canada College. As for her doubles partner, #6-seeded Prokopchuk defeated #6 Maria Zimmerman of De Anza College, 6-0, 6-0 and then ousted #4-seeded Claudia Stepien of College of the Desert. She has her hands full on the quarterfinals, as she squares off against #1-seeded Eva Spindler of American River College on Saturday morning.

Their day in doubles saw them drop just three games in two matches, which started with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against #16-seeded Molly Amico and Mary Beth Carter of Fresno City College. Their Round of 16 match resulted in a 6-1, 6-1 win over Folsom Lake College's Anjelica Frank and Abriana Rowe. In the quarterfinals, they will take on #4-seeded Stephanie Huang and Sophia Moeckelmann of Chabot College.

Sophomore Petra Such (Illyes Gyula, Hungary), a #5 seed, handed Frank a 6-1, 6-1 loss and followed that with a 6-0, 6-0 win against #13-seeded Abby Mullins of Santa Monica College. The road gets a little more difficult, as Such is facing #1-seed Halla Alajeely of Irvine Valley College in the quarterfinals. She also teamed with freshman Moa Lindstrom (Dragonskolans Elitidrottgymnasium, Sweden) to pick up a pair of doubles wins. Lindstrom, a #11-seed in singles, suffered a 3-6, 6-4, 5-7 loss to Huang, who is a #4-seed. They rebounded in doubles to defeat #13-seeded Zee Aynaci and Abigail Campos of San Francisco City College, 7-6, 6-3. Their second match of the day resulted in a 6-1, 6-0 victory against unseeded Sara Le Boulenge and Jo Ann Taylor of Orange Coast College. Their opponent in the quarterfinals are #1-seeded Sandra Dafinescu and Marie Zimmerman of De Anza, who were defeated by Suzuki and Prokopchuck, 8-1 in the team championship match on Wednesday.

Nordman, who faces Suzuki on Saturday in the quarterfinals, defeated #12-seeded Itzi Torres (ITESM CEM, Mexico/Kansas Wesleyan University) in the Round of 16, 3-6, 3-6 after Torres eliminated Taylor earlier in the morning, 6-1, 7-5. She and her doubles partner, #11-seeded Diviana Bravo (Rosa de Jesus Cordero, Ecuador), posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Josephine Pulver and Pia Valtierra of Santa Rosa Junior College, 6-2 6-2, before seeing their season come to an end with a 3-6, 4-6 setback against #3-seeded Miri Inoue and Cameryn Mason of Orange Coast in the Round of 16.